Almac and University College Cork collaborate in solid state
chemistry

12 June 2010

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University College Cork (UCC) and contract research and
manufacturing company Almac have launched an academic/ industrial
collaboration in the field of solid state chemistry to advance drug
development.

The partnership, which is principally funded by the Science
Foundation Ireland, is focussed on applying innovative new
technologies to elucidate 3D molecular structures from powder X-ray
data.

Through the use of current X-ray technology, it is necessary to
generate a single crystal in order to extract such structural
information. This is often problematic and the pharmaceutical
community have been compelled to seek alternatives.

The programme of research will be carried out between the
Pharmaceutical Solids group of the Analytical and Biological
Chemistry Research Facility, UCC and the Almac Physical Sciences
group.

“The UCC/Almac collaboration is strategic to the progression of
our academic goals and will be of great benefit to the students of
UCC, the research community and the Irish pharmaceutical sector as a
whole," said Anita Maguire, Professor of Pharmaceutical Chemistry
and Director ABCRF, UCC

“Almac is delighted to be engaged with UCC on this exciting
research project. The combined expertise will be used to develop
novel techniques which can advance the drug development strategies
of our clients,” said Linda McCausland, Head of Physical
Sciences, Almac.